A FATHER of two left seriously brain damaged in a motorbike crash on the A453 because of a negligent driver has been awarded over £4 million in compensation.

Marcel Beasley, 31, who was working as a pipefitter at Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station, suffered life-changing injuries including a very severe brain injury, a fracture of the skull and multiple soft tissue injuries. He was also left unable to use his left arm due to a brachial plexus injury. He can hardly walk and is wheelchair dependent and his brain injury causes significant problems with his speech, understanding and behaviour.

Mr Beasley has just been awarded a £4.2 million lump sum pay out. This will allow him to buy and adapt appropriate accommodation and then pay for all of the aids and equipment, adapted vehicles, therapies that he now needs. As well as the lump sum he will receive tax free payments of £175,000 a year to cover the costs of employing his specialist care team which he needs 24 hours a day for the rest of his life.

The collision happened on Friday, May 22, 2009 when Mr Beasley, who was 25 years old at the time, was travelling home from work on his Yamaha R6 motorbike along the A453 road in Nottingham.

He was overtaking a slow moving line of traffic when one of the cars in the traffic jam suddenly decided to pull out and turn into a farm entrance on the right, so that it could turn around and go back the other way. The car, a VW Golf, was being driven by a 39-year-old male driver.

With no time to break, Mr Beasley smashed into the driver’s door of the VW Golf and was catapulted into the air, across the road and into a ditch. His helmet was forced off as a result of the impact.

Mr Beasley, from Nottingham, was airlifted to Queen’s Medical Centre at Nottingham University Hospitals. On his way to the hospital his heart stopped eight times and on arrival he was immediately rushed to intensive care where he remained in a coma for a couple of weeks.

Serious injury and motorcycle specialist law firm, Fletchers Solicitors, took on Mr Beasley’s case. Before it went to court, Fletchers Solicitors secured interim payments from his compensation claim to pay for Mr Beasley to spend time in a specialist brain injury rehabilitation centre and also to find a rental home more suited to his changed needs, and to pay for adapting that home for his purposes.

The case went to a High Court trial at the Royal Courts of Justice in London in July 2012 to determine who was at fault for the accident. Despite the Golf driver and his legal team denying liability at the trial and contesting that Mr Beasley was travelling too fast, the judge found the car driver to be 100 per cent liable for the collision and for causing Mr Beasley’s injuries. The judge said the driver of the car should have seen the approaching motorcycle, which was plainly visible for some distance on its approach, and he failed to do so and pulled out into the path of the motorcycle, giving Mr Beasley no chance to avoid him.

Adrian Denson, Mr Beasley’s solicitor and head of serious injury at Fletchers Solicitors, said: “It is often thought that a filtering motorcycle must be at fault when there is a collision but that is very often not true, and the High Court judge in Marcel’s case fully accepted that. Our expertise in dealing with thousands of motorcycle claims has taught us that this is actually something that crops up a lot. Because bikes’ engines are exposed, there’s little or no soundproofing so people naturally assume that this big noisy engine they’re hearing is going too fast, when very often this is not the case at all. The judge rightly saw that Marcel was there to be seen and it was the Defendant’s spur-of-the-moment decision that unfortunately had disastrous consequences for Marcel and it had nothing to do with Marcel’s speed as he filtered past. This is a very important case for all bikers and it has been widely recognised as such both by lawyers and within the motorcycling community”.

After spending 15 months at the specialist brain injury unit, Richardson Mews in Northampton, Mr Beasley’s condition improved and he moved into a specially adapted rented farm house in Screveton where he is helped at all times by two support workers that live with him. He now undergoes full rounds of physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, psychological therapy and occupational therapy.

Cadell Beasley, Mr Beasley’s uncle who has acted as his litigation friend because Marcel was unable to make decisions about his claim on his own said: “Thanks to the fantastic support Marcel has received from the professionals around him, including the brilliant service provided by the solicitors at Fletchers who have always had his best interests at heart, Marcel’s life has dramatically improved and he is getting better every day. Despite doctors initially telling me he might not make it, Marcel is now able to walk with support and his speech is improving. He has even joined a gym and is making the most out of his new situation.”

The multi-million compensation package Fletchers Solicitors secured for Mr Beasley is to ensure he has sufficient funds to cater for all his future and current needs. This is to allow him to have the best possible quality of life post-accident, given he will be unable to work again and now needs substantial help and support with virtually all aspects of his life.

Ed Fletchers, CEO at Fletchers Solicitors, said: “This case highlights the devastating impact that careless driving can have on someone’s life. As a result of his brain injuries, Marcel will require around the clock care. Despite this abrupt life change, we’re delighted to see that he is making great progress. His family is thrilled with how well he’s doing. It’s a long and difficult road for him but he’s not doing it alone and he has a tremendous support network behind him.”